Le Mans, France – So far the only thing to stop Peugeot has been Peugeot itself – but the French Lion still holds first place through the first 12 hours of the most prestigious endurance in the world — the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Setting the pace is the No. 2 Peugeot with Nicolas Minassian, Stephane Sarrazin and Frank Montagny doing the driving hours.
The No. 1 Peugeot is in fourth place, three laps down to the leaders while the No.9 Audi team has moved to second place. The No. 9 Audi is on the same lap as the leader about three and half minutes off the leader’s pace while the No. 8 Audi is also three laps down to the leader.
The Peugeot team has been solid all week, sweeping the top three places in qualifying while confounding the Audi brain trust with their sheer speed. In the race the Peugeots have also been fast on the track and efficient on the pits but perhaps the Circuit De La Sarthe is beginning to takes its toll as the team has seen its one-two-three-four placing melt away.
Just about the time that it seemed that the Audis were going to make their move, the No 7 Audi with Tom Kristensen at the wheel had to take evasive action and the car wound up in the sand trap at the Porsche Curve. Kristensen limped back to the pits for repairs and lost three laps to the leaders. The No. 8 Audi is fourth and the Number.
Other notable results in the LMP1 class, show the Aston Martins four and seven laps down to the Peugeot respectively at the halfway point to lead all petrol-powered cars.
In LMP2, a pair of Honda ARX 01s are training the lead with Team Strakka Racing holding the lead at the halfway point over the American LeMans Series (ALMS) leader from Highcroft Racing by three laps. Third place goes to the Oak Racing Team in the Pescarlo Judd.
In a bit of a surprise, the leader in the GT1 class is the Saleen of Labre Competition is the leader, although they are three laps behind the leading GT2 class.Second in the class goes to the Luc Alphand Adventures sponsored Corvette C6R and third place is the Matech Ford.
The two factory Corvette C6 ZR1s lead the GT2 class with the Felbermayr holding on the third place in the class.
Notable retirements include this year’s first car out of the race, the Autocon Lola AER, the Jaguar RSR that retired after four laps, and the Beechdean Mansell Ginetta -Zytek of Nigel Mansell and family.
Also out of the race is the pole winning No. 3 Peugeot, and last year’s GT2 Champion from Risi Competizione that went out on the 116th lap.
